Sabah to attract RM5 billion in investments

Sabah aims to attract investments of up to RM5 billion in the manufacturing sector this year, says Sabah Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Industrial Development Raymond Tan Shu Kiah.

He said several projects were in the pipeline, particularly in the petrochemicals and energy sector, and investments would come in gradually over the next few years.

Among the projects, he said were Petronas’ second Ammonia and Urea plant in Sabah worth RM3 billion, Genting Group’s alternative fuel plants (RM1.3 billion to RM1.7 billion), a downstream urea plant by a Polish company (RM2 billion), Mewah Datu Sdn Bhd’s palm oil refinery plant (RM1 billion to RM2 billion) and a bioethanol plant by a local company (RM1 billion to RM2 billion).

“I’m hoping (the agreements for) all of them (investments) will be signed by end of this year…but most of them are ready to be signed,” he told reporters after delivering a keynote address at the “Sabah Your Choice Investment Destination” seminar here today.

Tan said the state was aggressively promoting green technology in the manufacturing sector, as well as, value-added oil and gas resources into chemical products.

He added that with the technology that was now available, palm oil waste or biomass can be developed into renewable energy, biofuel and chemical products.

Meanwhile, Tan said apart from investments by big companies, the state was also giving emphasis on sustainable small and medium enterprise investments.
“What I’m interested is not just a project with big amount of investments but the volume of players and the number of projects. I want it to be consistent.

“We have a big cluster of small and medium enterprises which contribute to investments and if you put them all together, it would consistently give the state government investments of between RM1 billion and RM1.5 billion,” he said.

Last year, Sabah attracted RM3.5 billion worth of investments in the manufacturing sector, down from RM5 billion recorded in 2012. - Bernama